Providence Public Library

ure, GO LOOK!! I promise you’ll fall in love with the space(s). Russell Morin has exclusive events here and I cannot say enough how wonderful they are. Great communication throughout the process and the staff the day-off was spectacular. (We had a medical emergency and they were so professional and quick, my husband and I didn’t even know it happened!!)

appreciated the variety of spaces (e.g., bridal suite upstairs, ship room for dinner, courtyard for dancing) to give guests room to move about, privacy for the bridal party, and a variation for photos. We received so many compliments on the venue. I also appreciate that it’s downtown - there are so many restaurants and hotels nearby to support your guests. There’s also the mall and other stores for whatever last minute items you forgot! But a wedding at the library is nothing without Russell Morin’s! From the moment we started planning the wedding, the staff at Russell Morin’s were excellent, answering all of our questions and helping us personalize and plan the big day. Our tasting experience was incredible - hardest decision was narrowing down our selections. The food on the day was excellent, served quickly with a very professional and polished staff. All the additional items - wedding cake, chocolate fountain, apps, and late night snacks - were just as excellent as the meal itself. We had a newlywed attendant who made sure we were fed and were where we were supposed to be all night - so grateful for her! And finally, our day of coordinator, Kelsey, was the best, taking care of every detail, from the rehearsal to setting up the day of to making sure we had everything we needed when we left for the night, including sandwiches and leftover wedding cake. We loved the library setting but the Russell Morin’s team made the event so special.

of the way, always responsive to emails, and graciously patient in addressing our many (many!) questions along the way. Krista was our day-of coordinator and similarly did a great job ensuring that the whole day ran smoothly. I truly cannot think of any moments that went wrong, or where timing was off, which is a testament to her excellent management on the day-of. Aside from these two lovely ladies, the entire team was professional, courteous, and elevated our event so that it felt out of a fairy tale. The venue itself is just so beautiful, and required minimal decorating aside from our florals-- something we didn't even think about at first, but later ended up being a huge time-saver! If you are considering the Providence Public Library, stop thinking, and contact them today. Our wedding day felt straight out of a fairytale, and I cannot recommend this venue enough. A wedding at PPL is sure to be beautiful, true to you as a couple, and executed to the highest degree of excellence and quality care. A huge thank-you to the entire PPL & Russell Morin team-- we will cherish the memories you helped create for us on the best day of our lives!

all my dreams come true and made sure everything was seamless. Start to finish. The setup of the day is segmented and it really helped me to soak in the entire day. I was able to appreciate each part of the night. the wedding attendant I had that night made she I was comfortable and not stressed at any point. Honestly I could go on and on about how much I loved my experience. It was perfection

d our jitters. The PPL's affiliated catering company, Russell Morins, accommodated our vegan wedding with some of the best food I've ever had. I'd give more stars if I could! Special shout out to Maggie and Nicole who responded immediately to all my silly questions and made the wedding so easy and fun!

rd is a lot of fun. The staff who work there are professional and responsive. The downtown location is incredibly convenient. We would highly recommend it.

erience.

to work with. The staff, especially Jessica, our bridal attendant, were excellent. The food was wonderful — our guests all commented on how much they enjoyed their dinners.

aige, Maggie, Jess and Janet at the Providence Public Library (PPL) and they were so attentive down to every little detail. They answered our questions, provided suggestions, ensured we were planned and executed a perfect wedding day. The food is delicious, the team is professional and responsive and they ensure that you are taken care of on your wedding day. The library is such a beautiful venue, and on the day of the wedding Jess, Maggie and Janet ensured our decor was how we wanted it. Morins and the PPL team truly went above and beyond!

thout it being a manor in the middle of nowhere. The venue is right in the middle of Providence, which made it so easy for our guests to travel and find accommodations! part of the library was under construction when we were getting married (the other side of the building), but it really didn't affect us at all. The space itself is great -- there is a top level for your ceremony, and lower area for dancing, and a separate room for eating dinner. I was nervous about it but it worked REALLy well. It kept people on the dance floor! To top it off, the caterer/event management - Russell Morins were AMAZING. About Russell Morin: Below is an excerpt from the email I wrote to Ardriana, our event manager at Providence Public Library and our day-of-coordinator. I wrote this only 2 days after our wedding, which fully describes how appreciative we were for the entire Russell Morin team. The venue (Providence Public Library) was absolutely gorgeous. Most importantly, Ardriana was available to answer questions whenever I had them (and I had plenty!!). They made the process so incredibly easy, and the day of felt like such a breeze because they are absolute professionals and experts at making weddings amazing. Ardriana and all of Russell Morin so thoughtful in helping us with some small pieces of our wedding -- for example, I asked if they had a specific thing that I hadn't seen on the menu but I knew my parents and family would like...and they came back and said they could do it?!! Or helping us with our vegan guests, figuring out dress changes (I changed into a traditional Chinese qipao in the the reception), and...everything. We cannot recommend them enough. Also so many people were obsessed with their food -- SEVERAL people texted me how good the chicken was. Nobody compliments chicken unless it's actually amazing. Which it was. "We've already expressed this, but again, thank you (and the staff) so so much for making this our picture perfect wedding. You made the entire process so easy and enjoyable for us and you made our wedding day so seamless, special, and wonderful. Absolutely everything was perfect -- the cake! The lighting! Getting us when we were scheduled to do something! And people RAVED about the food -- I've never heard anybody talk about chicken so earnestly. We knew the venue was beautiful but didn't know how even more beautiful it'd be for our own wedding. I really don't know how I could have planned a wedding without Morins and I will sing high praises of your team and the venue for my whole life."

was. However, RM struggled on a lot of things with my wedding. My first complaint comes from my wedding planning process. I booked the library when I had only seen it on Facetime. I was told that the only vendor they have an exclusivity deal with is a lighting vendor. I replied something like "that's OK, uplighting is not something we're interested in anyways." & the conversation was over. A few months later we were finally able to make a visit and do a proper tour. Uplighting came up again I again stated that we weren't interested. At that point our coordinator told us that she HIGHLY recommends it, & tells us how the library doesn't look good without it because all the house lights are on one switch that is either on or off. I told my coordinator how mislead I felt that she didn't express her strong opinion about lighting until AFTER I had committed. I also learned that the exclusive deal was 3K. That's a lot of money. After making my disappointment clear, they apologized but nothing changed. After that, I told myself I had to just swallow it & move on so that I could still try and enjoy my wedding experience. They switched our coordinator & I will say that Paige, our coordinator, was super nice to work with. I started to feel really good. My wedding was STUNNING and AWESOME. all in all I'm very happy we got married at the library. But the day of, here's where RM had weakness. Timing: Leading up to the day we made it very clear to Paige that we felt nervous about the dance floor being in a separate room from dinner, dancing was VERY important to us. We told her that we really wanted dinner to move as fast as possible, & she assured us that it would. Dinner took very long.After the pre-plated salad was cleared, we waited a full 35 minutes before the pasta began being served. The main course took at least another 20 minutes to be served, & possibly more. We ended up being in the dinner room for at least 45 minutes longer than anticipated. I also spoke to a guest that said she over heard a server tell another server "it's all messed up" or something along those lines. I also saw Paige bringing out treys of food.Why is the coordinator serving food? Also, our bridal attendant Janet was LOVELY but I was promised she would be right by my side the whole night. She wasn't, & I also saw her with a trey of food serving. The second complaint is about our cocktail hour. We had a LARGE bridal party, in order to prepare, I made it clear to Paige it was important to us to have enough appetizers brought up to the bridal suite for the bridal party. She also promised the bridal party would be served drinks & took me and my husband's drink orders to have waiting for us as soon as we got upstairs. None of that happened. Cocktail hour started at 6p & appetizers weren't brought up to the bridal suite until 7p after our Best Man made numerous complaints. I would like to give RM the benefit of the doubt & say maybe something did go wrong that night? But since they never acknowledged anything to me, I'm going to assume this is their standard of work. Also, RM charges a service personnel fee that goes up every time you add more people or food to your wedding, so in theory there is no way they should have been understaffed for the night, but it definitely felt that they were.

guests away. The way they set everything up in separate (but equally beautiful rooms) is so seamless and made our wedding stand out from others we've been to. It really made people get up, join us on the dance floor, and mingle with each other. The team from Russel Morins was incredible. I loved how they took care of everything from the design, to valet, to catering (THE FOOD IS AMAZING), to lighting. It made the planning process just a bit easier and it made the day of stress minimal because Paige took care of everything including all our vendors-- including the DJ, live performer, florist, photographer-- you name it, she took care of it. Also, I wouldn't be able to finish this review without talking about our bridal attendant Janet. Russell Morins seriously is committed to A+ service and it shows with Janet. She went above and beyond to make sure my husband and I were taken care of all night, from the moment we got there to the moment we left. Janet got us endless drinks, made sure we ate, physically got down on the floor and changed my shoes at least 5 times, she supplied bobby pins, bustled my very complicated dress, really anything you can think of that could go wrong Janet had the fix. All this is to say that the Russell Morin's team at the PPL creates a once in a lifetime dream experience for your guests but more importantly for you. We fell in love with the PPL the moment we walked in and you will too!

pecial. The venue itself is gorgeous and walking into my reception felt like a dream. The food was delicious and everyone raved about it through the night. Everything was simply perfect. You cannot possibly be disappointed with this team of people and this beautiful venue.

is great in that they allow all newlyweds to attend tastings at the venue - but what's great is that the library is set up like a wedding. I.e. when you walk in, its set up for a ceremony and you attend a mock cocktail hour in the courtyard and taste test apps, and then go upstairs for dinner and eat family style with other couples. They also have other vendors, like a DJ and furniture rental vendors attend the taste testing- this is where we found our amazing DJ as well! Additionally, PPL will sit and work with you regarding pricing, etc. and make sure everything is set up and runs the way you want. Our day went amazingly well and all of our guests noted that it flowed seamlessly. We loved our day, the beautiful venue, and everyone at PPL (and the catering company that works with them) who made it so special!

was THE venue for us). Our coordinators, Mike and Ardriana, were incredible! PPL exclusively works with Russell Morin, who provided THE most INCREDIBLE food and service! We were able to attend the larger tasting (for all of the 2018 weddings) and see the venue with furniture, uplighting, bars, DJ, seating options, decorating vendors and of course try the food! It was super helpful as it gave me a visual of what I could do with the space! We were able to have another tasting at RM a few months later, since we were not doing a sit down dinner (which I highly recommend). The food was amazing, guests are talking about it almost 3 weeks later! The staff that worked our wedding were also amazing. Janet, who was our personal attendant for the night, knew her stuff! You literally couldn't turn around without her checking in, asking if you needed a drink or water or made you sit down to actually eat and enjoy the food! She even helped me change my shoes because my feet hurt so bad! Mike and Ardriana were incredible as well. They made the process easy, validating my concerns or when my mother was driving me crazy! They genuinely were excited for my husband and I and it made the process even better. The night of the wedding, the space was EXACTLY what I wanted, down to the little tea light candles I had purchased and asked to be placed in very specific places! The other amazing thing was, I only had to speak with Mike and Ardriana. Everything was coordinating through them (food, liquor, tables, chairs, lighting, some decor rental) which made this process so much more manageable and enjoyable! I wish I could relive the night every week. If you are looking for a gorgeous, unconventional space, with amazing service, food and staff who are genuinely happy for you, this is your venue!

et Lisa and Kacey! From start to finish, everyone at Morins was incredibly easy to work with, responding quickly to every email and providing support and advice at every step. The actual event was everything we hoped for and more. The food was fantastic, the space was beautiful, and everything moved seamlessly without us having to do anything but enjoy the party. I can't recommend Morins at PPL enough.

d how amazing the food was. Lisa was so easy to work with, especially since I was planning from overseas. We didn't get the lighting, instead set up lots of candles and battery lights and worked still beautifully. We also made our own centerpieces from old books and kept the whole library theme throughout the wedding. Had a piano player for our ceremony, which was just beautiful. I would just say to keep in mind on the pricing and furniture extras. Just a stunning place to be married.

and I couldn’t have had a more invested and special team-they make the couple and their families feel completely at ease. There was nothing cookie cutter about their work-they remember the smallest details, answered what I sometimes thought were the craziest questions in an email, and shared the same level of excitement about our wedding as I had! You can’t duplicate a team like theirs. Morin’s Catering was beyond! Since none of our family was from Rhode Island it was important to us to capture everything Providence in that weekend and our custom menu from Morin’s Catering was just that! The lobster rolls and fried dough were huge hits! Lastly, there was something magical about the venue itself. We had both our ceremony and reception there but changing the furniture, Ormonde lightning colors, and the gallery feel made every portion of the night unique! HIGHLY RECOMMEND the library for a once in a lifetime experience!

as the first venue we visited and we really didn't need to see anything else. So thrilled to have had our wedding there!

d Gorgonzola baskets!!!) to the incredible dinner (one of our guests was a chef at a Boston restaurant and he asked for more Shrimp Neptune- that is how good it is!!) to the wonderful passed desserts (lemon cupcakes, root beer schnapps floats), everything was absolutely delicious and beautifully executed. Robin Hollow farms created beautiful flowers and Ormonde Productions did an amazing job. We chose Valentina as the DJ and she was great. Loved having a woman DJ! At the end of the night, everything was done and we were able to head out to enjoy the after party. We received multiple comments that it was the most beautiful wedding our guests had attended. We also heard wonderful feedback on the food. Typically, wedding food is mediocre. That was most certainly NOT the case. Morin's did an incredible job. I cannot say enough about how perfect the wedding was. It surpassed my expectations on every level. Thank you for a wonderful evening!!!

still getting compliments on the wedding, and everyone loved how unique the venue was. The staff was helpful and friendly from our first inquiry up until the end of the wedding evening. Lisa was there to walk us through every step, to recommend vendors for us, and to keep us on track. We couldn't have done it without her!

to life. All anyone can talk about is how beautiful the venue is and how grand everything was. The food was the selling point for us. Some of the best food/ wedding food I've ever had! Absolutely the best!

s itself well to a variety of palettes. The stone and gold chandeliers make for a beautiful ceremony space, and the ship room provides a cozy, half wooden, half cream colored room with architectural interest. There are multiple rooms at your disposal, and each can be utilized in different ways. And, if you choose this venue, you work with Russell Morin Fine Catering, which is a leading caterer in the southern NE region.

ble!

tiple rooms for various parts of the evening, to the romantic symbolism of getting married in a library. When my husband and I started searching for a Rhode Island wedding venue, we both had our hearts set on a waterfront location. But as soon as we saw the library, we knew it was the perfect choice. Throughout the planning process, Russell Morin and their amazing event coordinator Lizzie made everything seamless. On the day of the wedding, and the food was absolutely outstanding (I recommend splurging on the sea bass!). You also can't beat the convenience of downtown Providence--even our out-of-town guests had an easy weekend, with TF Green airport 15 minutes away, and 8 hotels within walking distance of the library. On a side note, there are tons of great places nearby for a rehearsal dinner--we chose Gracie's, located one block away. Many guests told us that it was the best wedding they'd ever attended.

and the main foyer area for our cocktail hour and reception. My only complaint is there is only one vendor option for lighting and I think that takes away an element of vendor competition that results in increased prices from the only vendor available.

ay that actually impressed my now husband! People are still commenting to me about the space. One guest told me it was like being in a 'pop up story book' in that every time the guests left a room it was flipped into something else. We were able to have the giant dance floor we wanted in addition to the more comfortable lounging space for those in need of a break. Our contacts at the library were fantastic about incorporating our vision and making suggestions, and they wedding day went off without a hitch. I can't imagine having had my wedding anywhere else.

rything went. Architecture and layout make for an unique location.

were happy to be somewhere besides a country club or ball room. The exclusive caterer, Russell Morin, was outstanding in both food and service. We are still receiving compliments over how fun and unique the hors d’ouevres were. While I wouldn’t classify the library as “cheap”, I felt we got a tremendous amount of value for what we paid. The service provided by Morins is outstanding and really makes you feel like this is an incredibly luxurious venue. A few close relatives tried to guess what we paid based on their experience at our wedding and they guessed $10-20k more than what we paid. The only negatives were relatively small and had to do with the library’s rigid policies about opening/closing times and lighting. Our rehearsal needed to be at 4:15pm because the library closes right at 5:30, which we felt was a bit too early for our bridal party who were all travelling and had little control over flight arrival times. This also meant our rehearsal dinner was at 5:30pm, which was way too early. It would be nice if they would be more flexible on that end. Additionally, if you opt for uplighting, you are required to work with Ormonde Productions and no one else. Their packages are outrageously expensive – even our wedding planner commented that she had never seen lighting that pricey in her career. This was frustrating since it kind of felt like when you buy a cheap printer but the ink is outrageously expensive. In the end, I was glad we opted for a reduced uplighting package because it really does enhance the beauty of the space, but I still felt kind of “duped” into it. Overall, we had a beautiful and unforgettable wedding, and I would highly recommend the library.

he nice mansions and estates that we looked at as alternative venues divided our guests into different dining rooms. We were able to have 165 seated in one room, and a fantastic party the whole night. Morin's at PPL made the night a dream come true. The biggest compliment was that both sets of parents said that they wouldn't change a thing. The library was amazing, and I feel lucky to have found it!

particularly in light of my indecisiveness with many details. My emails and phone calls were always answered with the utmost professionalism and insight. It was a wonderful night and we heard such great things from our guests about how they loved the food and the Library, and had an overall fantastic night!

ather unreasonable and out of our budget, so we branched out and found Providence, and I'm so glad we did. The PPL was only in its first wedding season as of our first contact with them in 2013, so their prices were very reasonable. Our coordinators, Lizzy and Alicia, couldn't have been more helpful. From start to finish, they worked with us to provide us with all the needed services. Given that we were planning our wedding from across the country in Los Angeles, this was a tremendous help. When the wedding arrived, Alicia was on hand to help us with every possible detail (Lizzy had planned to attend, but was unable to due to a family emergency), and I was assigned a personal butler for the evening, Janet, who saw to my every whim. It amazes me that the Providence Public Library is so new to weddings, because the staff works as though they've been doing this for decades. I would highly recommend the library to anyone looking for an unforgettable event.